Pan-Boy! (series)
Pan-Boy! (or simply just Pan-Boy) is an American animated comedy television series. It is created and directed by Aaron McCullough for Cartoon Network. The show follows the misadventures of 14-year-old Caleb Walker (known as Pan-Boy), his friends Scribbles and Alexis, his younger brother Liam Walker (known as Cupfeet), and his older sister Samantha Walker (known as Coffette) in the fictional city of Belaware. The series officially premiered on July 11, 2011, with a sneak peak on July 5, 2011 with the episodes "Voice Crack" and "Quija Board". According to the Cartoon Network website, Pan-Boy! is one of the most popular shows on the channel, along with Adventure Time, Regular Show, The Amazing World of Gumball, and Steven Universe. The series is rated TV-PG in the United States, meaning it may contain some material that parents or guardians may find inappropriate for younger children. Programs assigned a TV-PG rating may include some inappropriate language, very little sexual content, suggestive dialogue, and/or moderate violence."TV Parental Control". Cartoon Network. Pan-Boy! has been a ratings success for Cartoon Network, and despite being aimed primarily at children, it has developed a following among teenagers and adults. Premise The series revolves around the life of a 14-year-old (11 in season 1, 12 in season 2-3, 13 in season 4-5) named Caleb Walker aka Pan-Boy (voiced by Jonathan Morgan Heit), and his friends Scribbles (voiced by Keith Ferguson), Samantha Walker aka Coffette (voiced by Dakota Fanning), Liam Walker aka Cupfeet (voiced by Thomas Sangster), and Alexis (voiced by Joey King) in the fictional city of Belaware, and boy, there is a lot of weird stuff in that city. Production The origins of Pan-Boy! ''all started in 2004, when then 21-year-old Aaron McCullough created a webcomic called Party Cricket''. The webcomic was originally supposed to be for teens and adults (according to McCullough), but in later years, McCullough started a deep hatred for the webcomic. It was shut down in 2005. One year later in 2006, McCullough developed a new idea. Since he was already interested in cartoons, he decided to make a cartoon of his own. The show was originally called Super Pan-Kid!, but after McCullough thought that name was “too bland”, he changed it to Pan-Boy! since that name really clicked with McCullough. In 2007, McCullough pitched this new idea to Nickelodeon. They liked the idea, but not too much as they thought the idea needed a lot more work to become successful. So later in November 2007, McCullough started production on a[[Pan-Boy! (pilot)| Pan-Boy! pilot]] for Nickelodeon. It was originally gonna be animated in 3D, it was later changed to 2D animation due to budget issues. To bring in the voice actors, McCullough brought in Jonathan Morgan Heit and Keith Ferguson as the voices of Pan-Boy and Scribbles. The pilot was released on January 15, 2008 on the then-new site YouTube, and it gained over 1,500,000 views. Nickelodeon saw the pilot and they didn’t approve of it. So then McCullough pitched it to other networks looking for new cartoonists. In 2008, McCullough finally pitched Pan-Boy! to Cartoon Network, which at the time, was looking for new creators. So this could have been a great place to stay at. Cartoon Network loved the idea so much that the series was green-lit for a first season of 32 episodes in October 2008. Production on the series officially started in May of 2009. Later in that year, Cartoon Network and McCullough hired people who worked on SpongeBob SquarePants and Phineas and Ferb, as those shows were big inspirations for Pan-Boy!. Now McCullough got everyone on board and he made some great friends while developing Pan-Boy!. The show was originally planned to premiere on November 22, 2010, It was delayed due to scheduling issues. Then finally, on July 5, 2011, Pan-Boy! ''premiered on Cartoon Network, with the animation for the first season being provided by Titmouse, Inc. The show is about Caleb Walker, and 14-year-old that everyone refers to as Pan-Boy, and his daily activities in the town of Belaware City. ''Pan-Boy! ''became a hit on Cartoon Network, with the first episode "Voice Crack" being watched by 2.1 million viewers. So much so that shortly after the episode aired, A second season was commissioned. Season 2 of ''Pan-Boy! ''premiered on October 2, 2012, just one year after the first. The show would continue on for more seasons, with Season 3, 4, 5, and 6 premiering in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2018 respectively. Episodes The series currently has six seasons, a seventh season in development, with over 200 episodes. ''Pan-Boy! Minis Pan-Boy! Minis is a series of 10 shorts based on Pan-Boy! which ran between shows on Cartoon Network from 2013 to 2014. Animation The animation of season 1 of Pan-Boy! was done by Titmouse, Inc. Due to the crew of Titmouse losing the animation, Seasons 2-present are animated by Rough Draft Korea. Music Most of the music in Pan-Boy! is chiptune music made by Virt (Jake Kaufman). The intro of the show is "Turbonugget" from Virt. The ending theme is "Lick the alphabet" also by Virt. Broadcasting The series debuted on Cartoon Network on July 5, 2011. On December 1, 2014, Pan-Boy! ''began airing on Boomerang in the United States, alongside its broadcasts on Cartoon Network, but as of April 3, 2017, reruns have been removed."Boomerang Schedule - Cartoon Network". ''Cartoon Network. Time Warner. November 25, 2014. Archived from the original on December 3, 2014. Networks Reception Critical reception Pan-Boy! ''has received mostly positive reviews from critics, with Season 1 getting mixed reviews, and Seasons 2-6 getting positive reviews. In a favorable review, Brian Lowry of ''Variety described the series as "a great show with lots of depth and chaos" and "one of the trippiest cartoons on TV". Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly was also positive, writing: "There are few examples of mainstream children's programming as wildly imaginative, as visually and narratively daring, as Pan-Boy!." and "A great mix of SpongeBob SquarePants and Adventure Time." The series received a 8.3 on IMDb, and a 8.7 on TV.com. Ratings Upon its debut, Pan-Boy! was a ratings success for Cartoon Network. In March 2013, it was reported that the show averaged roughly 2 million viewers an episode. According to a 2012 report by Nielsen, the show consistently ranked first in its time slot among boys aged 2–14. The show premiered on July 5, 2011, and was watched by 2.1 million viewers."Tuesday's Cable Ratings: "Teen Mom" Returns With Demo Victory". The Futon Critic. The episode was a ratings success. According to a press release by Cartoon Network, the episode's time slot saw triple-digit percentage increases from the previous year. The program was viewed by 1.390 million children aged 2–11, which marked a 110 percent increase from the previous year's figures. It was watched by 710,000 children aged 9–14, a 338 percent increase on the previous year's figures."Cartoon Network's 'Pan-Boy!' Premieres Big; 16 Additional Episodes Ordered". TV by the Numbers. Between the second and fourth seasons, the show's ratings continued to grow; the second-season premiere was watched by 1.751 million viewers, the third-season premiere by 2.330 million, and the fourth-season premiere by 2.023 million."Tuesday's Cable Ratings: FX's "Anarchy," ESPN's "30 for 30" Top Charts". The Futon Critic."Thursday Cable Ratings: 'Pawn Stars' Wins Night + 'Loiter Squad', 'American Restoration', 'The Challenge: Free Agents' & More". TV by the Numbers. Zap2it. Retrieved June 11, 2014."Top 100 Monday Cable Originals (& Network Update): July 27, 2015". Showbuzz Daily. Archived from the original on August 6, 2015. Retrieved August 15, 2015. The show's fifth season opener took a substantial ratings tumble, being watched by only 1.08 million viewers."UPDATED: SHOWBUZZDAILY’s Top 150 Thursday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 11.3.2016 | Showbuzz Daily". Retrieved on 9 January 2017. Likewise, the sixth season premiere were watched by only 1.20 million viewers."SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 150 Friday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 1.5.2018 - Showbuzz Daily". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved January 8, 2018. Awards and nominations Related media Comic books On January 16, 2012, KaBOOM! Studios announced plans for an Pan-Boy! comic book series written by graphic novel illustrator and animator Tyson Hesse, who is best known for his work on the Sonic the Hedgehog ''comic book series. The series launched on July 27, 2012, with art by Shelli Paroline and Braden Lamb. In August 2015, it was revealed that Hesse had left the comic series after three years. His duties were assumed by Fred Gallagher, who is the co-creator of ''Megatokyo. The Pan-Boy! comic book series officially ended on January 26, 2019, after almost 8 years and 74 issues. Video games The series has spawned several major video game releases. The first game based on the series, Pan-Boy!: The Game, was announced by Aaron McCullough on his Twitter in February 2013. The game was developed by WayForward Technologies for Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS, and was released by D3 Publisher on September 13, 2013. A year later, the game Pan-Boy!: Where's My Hat??, which follows Pan-Boy and Scribbles looking for Pan-Boy's pan hat after it was stolen by Hat Man, was released on September 26, 2014. On November 6, 2015, Pan-Boy!: The Secret City of Unknown was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Microsoft Windows. In August 2016, the fourth major Pan-Boy! ''video game, titled ''Pan-Detectives, was released for 3DS, Windows PC and other consoles. It is the first game in the series to feature 3D graphics. Another game, Pan-Boy!: Legends of the Dark Cave, was released for the PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Windows, and Xbox One in June 2019. Pan-Boy and Scribbles became playable characters in a video game called Cartoon Network: Battle Crashers which was released for the Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One on November 8, 2016 and the Nintendo Switch on October 31, 2017. Proposed film A feature film based on Pan-Boy! was being developed by Cartoon Network Studios and Warner Animation Group. While a synopsis and release date have not been released, it was revealed that Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who worked on The LEGO Movie, will be producing the movie. Aaron McCullough will have some involvement in writing and producing for the film, and Warner Bros. will be the movie's main distributor. In August 2015, Kelly Crews confirmed that Aaron McCullough is still working on the premise for the film, but there was "nothing official to announce yet." Despite evidence of continued work on it, the film is not officially in development yet. On February 20, 2019, Crews noted that "an [Pan-Boy!] movie was never officially announced." Other merchandise A variety of officially licensed merchandise—including action figures, role-playing toys, bedding, dishware, and various other products—have been released. Since the dramatic increase in popularity of the series, many graphic T-shirts have been officially licensed through popular clothing retailers. Other shirts can be purchased directly from Cartoon Network's store. On March 11, 2017, it was announced by Lego via Lego Ideas that an official Pan-Boy! Lego set from an idea by site user, RichDanceMan, had met voting qualifications and was approved to be produced in cooperation with Cartoon Network. The set was released on January 5, 2018. Home media On September 15, 2012, Cartoon Network released the region 1 DVD Important Trash, which features a selection of twelve episodes from the series' first season. Following this, several other region-1 compilation DVDs have been released, including: Pan-Boy of the Wild (2013), Steakout (2013), Weekend at Pan-Boy's (2014), The Talent Show! (2014), Pan-Boy! and Friends (2014), Lights, Camera, Axes! (2015), Stories from Beneath the Ground (2015), Invasion of the Paper Snatchers (2015), Detective Mystery ''(2016), ''Powerhouse (2016), and The Pookie Collection (2017). Additionally, the first six seasons were released on DVD in the United States, and all seasons were released domestically on Blu-ray. On March 30, 2013, the first season of Pan-Boy! was made available on the Netflix Instant Watch service for online streaming; the second season was made available on March 30, 2014. Both seasons were removed from Netflix on March 30, 2015, although the series was eventually made available for streaming via Hulu on May 1, 2015. Trivia * The show was renewed for a second season before it even premiered. * Several episodes featured guest animators like Sally Cruikshank, David OReilly, David Ferguson, and Yotam Perel. * It takes about 7 months to produce an episode and about 14 are worked on at the same time. * The show is rated TV-PG, although some episodes are rated TV-PG-V or TV-PG-D. * While the concept for the show had been around since 2005-2006, production on the show did not officially begin until 2009. * "Black Myst" is the 100th episode. ** "Sword Fighters!" is the 200th episode. * The series changed air dates from Monday to Tuesday to accompany Level Up. Then, the show moved to Wednesdays since all the time slots were taken on Tuesdays. However, it went back to Tuesdays towards the end of Season 2, only to be moved to Thursdays starting in Season 3. * The show was named Pan-Boy! before the main character was drawn. References Category:Pan-Boy! Category:Pan-Boy! Wiki